Unravel
by IndigoMoon27
Summary: Don't want to give anything away... Please read if you'd like to.
1. Prologue

**Unravel**

 **Prologue.**

 **xXx**

It was delicious.

That smell.

Practically made his mouth water. It was so close by now, he could almost taste it.

He wanted it.

Needed it.

Craved it.

And he was going to have it.

Have _her..._

Tonight.

Had it already been a month since the last one? Oh well. Tonight will make up for it. As long as no one interrupted, he would take his time and savor the taste of every piece of her flesh. Make her last longer than the last one did.

Just the thought had him rushing towards the alley where he'd last seen her disappear into.

The closer he got to her body, the more that smell... that _scent_ , drove him crazy with a hunger he hadn't felt for a whole month. How was it possible that he lasted so long without doing this? He often wondered that question. But I suppose it's a good thing really. After all, if he just did this whenever he felt like it, it would only be a matter of time before _he_ found out the truth, and wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

So yes.

 _This_ was the only way he knew how to keep the monster, hidden deep inside of him at bay.

His _true_ self.

Kneeling down he looked at her laying there on the cold wet ground. "I'm sorry." he whispered, brushing a strand of bloody, curly blonde hair out of her face. He looked up at the building where she'd dropped from a few minutes earlier. By the look of it, she'd been pushed out the window from the top floor. Her killer clearly knew there was no way she'd survive the fall. Because he/she hadn't even bothered to check her body to make sure she was dead.

Shaking his head at the sheer heartlessness of the situation. He couldn't believe how cruel human beings could be to one another. "And people call us monsters." Looking back down at her broken body, he saw all the blood that surrounded her.

Again his senses were struck by that _delicious_ aroma.

He licked his lips. "Your death won't be in vain at least. Thank you. Whoever you are."

Leaning his head down to where her pale neck was showing, he took a long sniff as his eye colors changed from white with blue irises to black with red irises. He licked the side of her neck and down to her collarbone a few times, before finally sinking his teeth into her still warm dead flesh.

 **xXx**

 **A/N- Alright. So this is probably gonna be the most fucked up story i've ever written before. But I got the idea from a manga/anime called (Tokyo Ghoul) which I love so much that I decided to write a story _very_ loosely based on it, with an OTH twist. I really hope you will give it a chance and read it. But bare in mind, if you're squeamish you might want to skip this fic. Just FYI. **

**Okay, on with the disturbia...**

 **Thank You.**

 **xxx**


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One.**

 **xXx**

 _One Week Later..._

Haley James stood there looking at all the different people who had shown up for the funeral. People who had no business even being there in the first place. Friends of her cousin's boyfriend. Or _ex-_ boyfriend as the case may be. Most of them didn't even know her cousin Peyton. And some of them didn't even like her cousin. As for the rest... well, they weren't worth mentioning. Turning her head to the left, she saw her uncle trying his best not to cry. He was always trying to be the strong one for their family. Especially after his wife, Anna had died in a car accident when Haley and her cousin were only seven years old. Then, not even three years later; more loss befell the James family. When her mother and father were both killed instantly by a drunk driver, on their way back from a weekend in Charleston.

Needless to say she'd had a fear of driving ever since.

And now at the age of nineteen, her cousin was dead too. Not by a car accident though. But by something else. Someone found her body in an alleyway next to her apartment building. Most of her flesh had been eaten by one of those... _things._

Ghouls.

They were all over the news these days. Strange beings who could only survive on human flesh. There had been several murder cases to do with them recently. If it hadn't been for dental records, the police would've never been able to identify Peyton's body. But it wasn't even a ghoul who had killed her cousin. The police wrote it off as a suicide, saying she jumped from her apartment building that night. But that was bullshit. She knew her cousin better than anyone. Peyton was dark, sure.

But she _wasn't_ suicidal.

She turned to face the front again, just as they started to lower her cousin's coffin into the ground. "I can't do this." she told herself, before quickly walking away from everyone. She could feel all of their eyes on her, but she didn't care. She refused to look back, as she walked to where her uncle's car was parked.

She stopped walking when she noticed someone with dark hair, leaning against one of the cars near her uncle's, with his head down. She didn't know him personally or anything, but she'd seen him around campus before. What was he doing here? Had he known Peyton or something? Or was he _another_ one of the onlookers who just showed up for 'the funeral of the girl who'd been eaten by a ghoul?' If that was the case, she'd tell him exactly where he could go. As though he'd read her mind or something, he looked up at her. She could see different emotions running across his face. But the one that stood out the most, was the fact that he looked almost... afraid.

Did he know something about what had happened that night?

Before she could even get a word out, he quickly took off in the opposite direction, between the parked cars. Haley quickly tried to follow him. But when she managed to maneuver herself through the cars, there was no sign of him.

At all.

He'd completely vanished. Like he'd never even been there in the first place.

"What the hell?" she was very confused.

 **xXx**

As soon as she was alone in her room, Haley reached behind her back to pull down the zipper on her black dress. She quickly pushed it down over her hips to the floor, before stepping over it towards her dresser. Finding a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she quickly changed. She picked up her dress and dumped it into the laundry basket. Picking up a framed photograph from off her night-stand, Haley sat down on her bed. Looking down at the picture of herself and her cousin; smiling for the camera in their blue robes on graduation night, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Peyton.

Who murdered her cousin?

And why?

 **xXx**

Taking a deep breath before reaching for the handle, Nathan Scott pushed open the door to 'Karen's Cafe.' Looking around the place, it didn't take him long to spot the girl he was looking for. He quickly made his way over to her. She spoke before he had a chance to sit down.

"You're late." she told him, not looking up from her crossword puzzle.

"Yeah." he took his seat opposite her. "Sorry about that. I uh... got held up."

His hesitation made her look up at him. "That better not mean what I think it does, Nate."

He looked away guiltily, from her accusing blue eyes. "Lily please don't-

"You went to that girl's funeral, didn't you!" she hissed at him, keeping her voice low. He didn't need to reply. The look on his face told her everything she needed to know. "Have you lost your fucking mind!? Why would you be so stupid!?" taking a deep breath whilst running her hands through her long dark hair, she tried to calm down. "Tell me you didn't stay for the whole thing, at least?"

He looked back at her. "Of course I didn't." he told her, annoyed that she would ask him that.

How dare he get all pissy with her. _He_ was the careless idiot here. Not her. "Good." she nodded to herself; pleased that he wasn't _completely_ incompetent "So no one saw you then." Again. The look on his face told her everything. "Someone saw you!" she hissed at him again, only louder this time. And the few people that were still in the quiet cafe, were now looking in their direction. Including the owner, Karen. "Damn it, Nathan!" she lowered her voice again. "Why don't you just make a flashing neon sign saying _ghouls_ , and point it right at us!" she took it back; he was _definitely_ incompetent.

Karen quickly made her way towards the two nineteen year olds. "Is there a problem here you two?"

"Oh no, everything is fine." Lily replied with total sarcasm. "Other than the fact that my little brother is a complete moron." she leaned back in the chair with her arms folded across her chest. "What happened to always being careful, huh? What happened to our rules, Nate? No one finds out about us. No one gets hurt. And no one gets hurt if-

"No one finds out about us." he finished for her.

"Exactly."

Karen looked at the two siblings with panic in her eyes. "Someone found out about you?"

"No." he replied.

"Not yet. More like. But it's only a matter of time, right." and with that said, Lily Scott grabbed her coat, before storming out of the place.

Nathan sighed in frustration at how dramatic his sister could be. They were twins. And were identical in a lot of ways. Yet they couldn't be more different. Where he was always drawn to how humans lived. Lily was more than happy to stay as far away from them as possible. In fact... The only human he'd _ever_ seen his sister interact with was their mother.

Karen Scott.

She wasn't their real mother. Biologically speaking that would be impossible. But she _was_ the only mother he and his twin had ever known. Nineteen years ago her husband, Keith had been accidentally shot and killed by a man. The same man that had murdered; without any remorse, Nathan and Lily's biological parents. Because they were both ghouls. And what made it worse, was that this man also happened to be Keith's brother and partner.

Dan.

Karen hadn't told them everything. She could only tell them what she knew. And that was; someone had shown up to the apartment she and Keith had been living in at that time. He'd told her what had happened to her husband that night. And also about a message he'd received from Keith; a week before he'd been shot. It mentioned about twin babies. One boy. One girl. And that he'd promised he would take care of them. The stranger went on to tell Karen that Keith had been planning to tell her _everything_ after he and Dan had finished their 'mission.'

But something went _very_ wrong; and Dan ended up killing his brother.

Two days later, the stranger brought the twins to Karen; and also enough money for her to leave town and start fresh somewhere else. As the two got older; so did their hunger for human flesh. Karen had been warned beforehand about this happening. That the two children were _not_ human. And therefore could not digest human food. It made them sick. Both literally; as well as physically.

It took awhile. But eventually, Karen was given an idea by a self claimed 'ghoul expert.' Who had written a book about them. He'd made a sick joke about them eating Jane and John Doe's. So, making a tough decision; Karen knew what she needed to do in order to help her 'children.' Ever since then, Nathan and Lily have only ever eaten the flesh of a dead person. By the time the twins were in their early teens; they found they could go a whole month without having to eat again. That certainly helped with the cravings at least.

And the rest as they say...

Is history.

 **xXx**

 **A/N- Thank you to all for giving this wacky story a chance. Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas. Please R &R.  
**

 **xxx**


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter** **Two.**

 **xXx**

Running a frustrated hand through his blonde hair, he let out a quiet sigh. He'd been sat there now for over thirty minutes. Trying to wait patiently, as the old guy in front of him read over his paperwork. Very slowly. Didn't matter how long he'd been working for this secret organization; who dealt with those _disgusting_ ghouls. He would _never_ get used to this. There had been another murder last night. A man in his late twenties had been attacked on his way home. All his flesh had been eaten away. According to the coroner's report; there was a possibility the man was in fact still alive, when his flesh had been removed.

That's how twisted those sick bastards were.

There were a few grumbles from his boss, before the old man _finally_ looked up to address him. "This is very good work, Lee. You should be proud of yourself."

"Thank you, sir. But I'll be more proud when we've wiped out every last one of these hideous bastards. Once and for all."

The old man nodded in agreement. "You and me both, son." he shifted in his seat uncomfortably, as he brought up a sensitive subject. "The... uh... anniversary is coming up soon. How are you coping with things?"

He was surprised his boss would ask him that. "It will in no way effect my work. If that's what you mean, sir."

"It wasn't." his boss assured him. "But I'm glad to hear that." he leaned back in his chair. "As you know, you're one of the youngest agents we have. And you work just as hard; if not more so, than your father did."

"Thank you, sir."

"He was a good man, Lucas. As was his brother."

"So I've heard." he said quietly.

Lucas was seven years old when his father killed himself. He just couldn't deal with the fact that he'd murdered his brother. Even if it had been an accident. One night, he'd gotten more upset than usual and kissed his wife and son goodbye. Telling them he was sorry; but he had to go. Of course, Lucas and his mother Debra didn't know what he'd meant at the time. It wasn't until the next day, when his mom had picked him up from school; crying her eyes out, that he knew something was wrong.

He just knew; even though he was only seven at the time, that he'd never see his father again. It turned out his dad had been drinking, and walked into the path of an oncoming train. After all the tears of sadness, hurt and disappointment had passed; his mother had gotten angry. So angry in fact, that she decided her son was never going to have that cowards name, as his last name. So, she went back to going by her maiden name Lee, and also changed his name to Lucas 'Scott' Lee. So anyone who hadn't known his father _personally._ Had no idea he was Dan Scott's son.

His mother may have been angry at his father, for taking his own life. But Lucas had always directed his anger to what he saw was the cause of _all_ of it.

The ghouls.

He'd made it his personal vendetta to destroy every single one of them.

And _nothing_ was going to stop him.

 **xXx**

Sighing in frustration at her brother's stupidity, Lily quickly walked down an alleyway leading to an abandoned building. Or so the humans thought, whenever any of them happened to walk by it. But the ghouls knew better. This place was like her sanctuary away from those filthy humans. Excluding her mother in the same category, of course. She'd never understood why Nate was so fascinated by those walking, talking bags of meat. It was bad enough being forced to go to school with them all those years. But at the same time it was good. Because that's how she and Nate found out they weren't the only ghouls in the world. And it was the place where they had both met...

"Brooke!" a male's voice boomed from across the room, the moment Lily had pushed open the door leading to the hidden bar/club. 'Tric.'

A woman with shoulder-length dark hair popped up from behind the bar. "Yes sweetie?" she replied in a sickly sweet voice.

Her 'sweetie' shook his head in annoyance. "Would you care to explain what the hell that is." he said referring to something behind him, as he walked towards her.

She looked over his shoulder. "Um. A sofa."

"I can see it's a sofa. What I wanna know is what it's doing here."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Julian. Did you forget? We needed a new couch for the bar." she explained like she was talking to a three year old. "I got us one. And for a very good price I might add."

Now it was Julian's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah okay. But, Brooke." he whined. "It's... pink!"

Brooke looked at him like that was the dumbest thing he'd ever said to her. "It's not pink."

"Uh yeah. I'm pretty sure it is."

"No. It's magenta."

"...What's the difference!?"

"There's a big difference, okay! Pink is pink. And magenta is... Magenta!"

Julian ran his hands through his hair in frustration, as Lily stood in the shadows trying not to laugh at their antics. "I swear if I didn't love you so much, I'd-

"You'd what, huh!? Come on. What would you do?"

"You'll never have to find out. Because I love you too much." he replied before walking towards the wooden stairs, that led to their apartment.

Brooke cried out in annoyance, as she stomped her foot on the floor. Then quickly went after her husband to give him a piece of her mind. Lily couldn't hold back her laughter anymore, especially when she heard what Brooke had just called him. She made her way over to the brand new pink/magenta sofa and sat down. "Yep." she sighed happily. "I love this place."

 **xXx**

"I hate this place." Nathan grumbled to himself, as he walked down the hallway towards his final class of the day. He had just turned the corner, when he felt someone smack into him. He reached out to stop them from falling.

"I'm so sorry." he heard a female's voice reply. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

He let go of her. "No. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

They looked up at each other at the same time. Both pairs of eyes widened in recognition. Shit. Nathan knew he had to get away from her. Fast. He decided to skip his last class and head straight home. He just turned, when he felt a tug on his jacket. Oh no.

"Please wait." he heard her soft voice behind him. "I saw you, didn't I? At my cousin's funeral this morning?" she asked gently. "Did you know her?"

Without looking at her, Nathan shook his head.

"Then why were you there? Another onlooker?"

He now turned to look at her, confused. "Onlooker?"

"Yeah. Because she got eaten by a ghoul, right?" the girl in front of him sounded angry.

Nathan couldn't help but flinch when he heard that. "I... uh... I didn't know." he lied. He'd heard about those kinds of people before. Man they were twisted. Some of them actually went to this school. Bet they'd be shitting their pants if they knew one of their classmates was a real life ghoul.

"I'm sorry." she sighed. "I just get so angry thinking about it. I mean how heartless can those bastards be? Showing up with their cameras. Hoping to get a glimpse of..." she trailed off. "It just makes me sick, you know?"

He nodded without saying anything. He could see she still had that same questioning look in her eyes. But luckily for him, her phone started ringing. He saw his chance and quickly took off while she was distracted.

"...Yeah I just had to pick something up. I'll be home soon... Okay. Bye." she put her phone back in her jean pocket and turned back towards the guy she was talking to. "I'm Haley by the way..." noticing he was no longer there, she let out a sigh. "And he's gone again."

 **xXx**

Making her way back downstairs, Brooke felt a lot calmer. She moved towards the bar, when she spotted a familiar face sitting on her brand new _magenta_ colored couch. "Hey Lily." she smiled at the younger by two years girl, as she walked up to her. "What brings you to my humble abode this early?"

"Nathan." she sighed.

"Ah. And what did baby bro do this time?" Brooke asked as she took a seat next to her. "Have sex with a human?" she joked.

Lily glared at her. "That is _not_ even funny, Brooke."

"Sorry. Sorry." she lifted her hands in mock surrender. "So what did he do?" she asked again seriously this time.

"He went to another funeral ceremony this morning."

"He didn't?" she was annoyed but not really surprised. Nate was always the same whenever he had to feed off of someone's corpse. Especially once they had been on the news. "That boy is too damn sensitive for his own good."

"Tell me about it." Lily sighed. "Oh and get this. Someone saw him there." she revealed.

Brooke quickly turned her head to face her friend. "Are you kidding!? Who? It wasn't..." she looked around the room in fear. As if the person she was about to mention would suddenly show up in front of them. " _Him_. Was it?"

"I don't know. But I really hope not. Because if that guy ever finds out about us. We don't stand a chance in hell."

 **xXx**

 **A/N- Thank you all again. And don't worry if you've never read/watched Tokyo Ghoul. Like I said in the prologue this story is very loosely based off of it. I'm not copying the story-line at all, just the idea. So it really doesn't matter if you have or haven't seen/read it. The only parts that are similar is 1. They eat human flesh. 2. Their eyes turn black with red irises when they get a strong scent of blood. 3. They can't eat any human food as it makes them throw up. 4. They look human and have tricks to blend in _with_ the humans. 5. There is a special organization who hunts ghouls.  
**

 **And that's about it really. The rest comes from my twisted imagination lol.**

 **xxx**


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three.**

 **xXx**

 _A Few Days Later..._

Haley knew it was wrong to be here. Very wrong. And she felt nauseous just by placing her hand against the door of her cousin's old apartment. But she had to do this. Pushing it open she stepped inside and closed it softly behind her, just as the sound of pouring rain could be heard from outside.

Seeing as the police had already marked her death as a suicide. And no matter how many times she had tried to explain to them, that there was _no way_ Peyton had killed herself. No one would listen. Or do a damn thing about it.

So now Haley James had decided to take on the roll of Nancy Drew.

Slowly, she walked around the room taking everything in. Even the tiniest bit of detail if it meant there was a clue about what exactly had happened here that night.

Haley made her way over to the broken window. She couldn't help but look down below, where the cold wet alleyway was. That's where Peyton's body was found. Twice.

Once by a ghoul.

The same ghoul who had fed off her. What if she had still been alive at the time, even if it had been a little while longer, when he... Or she...

Not being able to finish that thought, Haley quickly rushed to the bathroom to say goodbye to what little she'd eaten this morning.

By the time she was done and had wiped her mouth with some toilet paper, Haley sat there on the cold tiled floor with her head against her knees. "Why?" she mumbled as she felt tears falling down her face. "Why did this have to happen, Peyt? Who did this to you?"

So many questions and no one to answer any of them.

Haley decided to leave things for now and head home. She had already moved out of the dorms to stay with her Uncle for awhile and help him out as much as she could. For once in her life, _she_ was going to be the strong one. So her Uncle would lean on _her_ for support. Not the other way around.

She wiped her face a few times with her hands. Quickly brushing more stay tears away, before slowly standing back up. Haley had just reached for the door-knob, when she heard footsteps coming from the other room.

Who was that?

In confusion she waited and listened, when she heard a faint male voice. Sounded like he was talking on the phone to someone.

"...Look. I did what you asked, okay... No... Well how the fuck was I supposed to know one of those hideous things would show up!?... You never said that... All you said was to make it look like a... Yes, I'm in her apartment right now... I'm looking for it! Are you sure it's here?... What about her family? You sure they're not involved?... Hey look man, as long as you pay me, I'll kill whoever you want me to."

Kill?!

Haley quickly covered her mouth to stop from making a sound. She was right. Peyton really _was_ murdered. "I have to get out of here." She said to herself barely above a whisper.

Looking around in panic, Haley spotted the small open window and very quietly crept towards it. She had just managed to squeeze herself through, and stand on the wet window ledge, when the bathroom door suddenly swung open with a loud bang.

The noise had startled her and Haley lost her balance, but managed to grab a hold of the window ledge just in time. Now she was hanging on for dear life, by her fingers, with nowhere to go except straight down.

(Gulp!)

Haley could hear the movements of the guy in the bathroom. His voice was a lot lower than before because of the rain, and she could only make out a few of his words this time.

"...Experiment...

...Payback...

...Ghouls...

...Lucas..."

That was the last thing she heard before her wet fingers lost their grip, and she fell to her imminent death.

xXx

As he made his way down the street, Nathan shivered. He had to get out of this rain. It had started so suddenly and he'd left his jacket at his mom's cafe. He was about to rush off, when something caught his eye. Was that...? Yes. It was. Someone was holding on to a window ledge. "What the hell?" he was confused.

Next thing he knew they were falling.

Nathan's feet started running before his brain could realize what he was doing. He'd just got there in time, when he felt the person _literally_ fall into his arms. Okay. So by the form, he could tell it was a female. He could also tell she was in shock. Understandable. He knew he should say something. Or maybe he should let her go and just take off, before she saw his face...

Too late.

Wait a second. He knew that face. It was her.

"It's you." She stared back at him with mixed emotions on her face. "You saved me."

"Yeah." He just hoped Lily, Brooke and everyone else didn't find out. A ghoul saving a human? That was unthinkable to his kind. Karen Scott was the _only_ exception. And even then, there were some ghouls who didn't approve of _any_ humans knowing the truth about them. But she was the only mother he and his sister had ever known. And he would protect her no matter what.

 _This_ human however?

Why did he save her?

"Thank you." She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

She had a strange floral scent coming from her skin. It was nice. "Um... You're welcome. I guess." He muttered that last part to himself.

He gently loosened his hold on her, so she'd get the hint to let go of him. But she didn't. Now they were both standing in the pouring rain, with her still clinging to him. It was starting to make Nathan uncomfortable. He'd never been this close to a human before, other than his mother, when she insisted on giving him a hug.

And sure he had friends at college that were human. But they never really hung out. And they were all guys anyway. Girls would talk to him sometimes. And yes, he'd noticed the looks they would give him. But because he'd show no interest and always kept his distance, they would leave him alone most of the time.

But this was different.

Very different.

After all this was the girl who had seen him at her cousin's funeral. The same cousin he had fed from that night. Even though she was dead. He still felt guilty. No. It was no good. What if she started asking questions again? He had to get away from her.

"I'm Haley." He heard against his neck.

He felt her finally let go of him. She was now looking up at him, waiting for a reply. What now? He could always lie. Give her a fake name. But for some reason, seeing her standing there soaking wet, with that look upon her face. Nathan realized something...

He wanted her to know his name. "I'm Nathan."

xXx

"Agent Lee!" Lucas heard behind him as he was getting some coffee. He turned to look at the flustered young woman who had just called him.

"What is it?"

"New report just in, sir. They found another body."

God give him strength. "Ghouls?" as if he had to ask.

"Yes sir." She handed over the file in her hand.

As Lucas read it his face twisted with disgust. "I'm really gonna enjoy wiping these bastards off the planet." He grumbled. He continued to read along the pages, when something caught his eye. "Tree Hill, North Carolina?"

"Is something wrong, sir?" besides the obvious. She thought to herself as she pushed her glasses up.

"I thought Banks had been working on that case?" he mumbled under his breath. "Eve." He turned to his assistant. "Get me all the files you can find on Tree Hill, North Carolina. Starting from six months ago."

"Right away, sir." She quickly rushed off.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Lucas pulled out his phone and dialled the first number on his speed-dial. "Hey. It's me. We need to talk."

xXx

 **A/N- Thanks guys this one is a bit shorter than the others, but hey, at least we're making progress (at last lol) Also just to let you know updates will take longer now, because i have lost the parts that were already written and i am wracking my brain trying to remember everything that i already wrote down... Stupid computer! Arghh! Anyway i'm really trying my best so please bare with me. I'm gonna start chapter four as soon as I post this one, okay. But I do have distractions around me all the fucking time in RL, and it's not like I can just wipe them all out is it LOL.**


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four.**

 **xXx**

What the hell was he doing? Was the only thought going through Nathan's mind. Wasn't it enough that he'd saved her from certain death? No. Now he was walking her home, too. She had been really shaken up by her fall. She... Haley. As he now knew her name. Haley had kept mumbling to herself about things that made no sense to him. The rain had finally eased up, so at least there was that. Didn't change the fact that they were both freezing and soaked to the bone though.

They both continued walking in silence, until Haley spoke. "Can I... tell you something?"

"...I guess." Haley stopped walking, which made Nathan stop walking. He watched her bite her bottom lip, while shifting her eyes to look around.

She looked terrified.

Haley hesitated, unsure whether she should say anything or not. After all, Nathan was a stranger, who she'd only ever seen around campus before last week. But that stranger did save her life earlier. And she really needed someone to talk to "I overheard something I shouldn't have..." she started, keeping her voice low. "Someone killed my cousin. And I'm scared they're gonna come for me and my Uncle next."

Nathan was really confused. So he said the first thing that popped into his head. "Huh?"

"I was in her apartment. I felt sick, so I went into the bathroom. Then I heard some guy and he was talking on the phone. He said as long as they paid him. He'd kill whoever. I panicked and climbed out the window."

"And that's why you fell?" he was putting the pieces together.

Haley nodded her head. She could feel tears stinging her eyes. "I don't what Peyton was involved in. But that guy was looking for something." She started pacing up and down. "I know we don't know each other. I know I shouldn't be telling you any of this. But I don't know what to do. I can't go to the police. There's no proof. They wouldn't believe me anyway. They're pretty much convinced it was a suicide. I can't talk to my Uncle about this, he's going through enough as it is. I can't tell any of my friends either, they'll have me committed..."

Nathan listened to her rambling to herself.

And he thought ghouls had problems.

Haley stopped pacing. "You probably don't believe me, right? I mean why the hell would you." She ran her fingers through her wet hair in frustration. "I sound crazy."

"Yes you do." He couldn't help but agree with her on that. "But. I believe you."

"You do?" she looked at him with disbelief.

"Sure." He shrugged. Why not. If Nathan and the other ghouls were constantly looking over their shoulders worrying about _him_ finding them _._ Then why shouldn't Haley be worried about someone after her, too.

"Oh my God. Thank you." She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

"Um... Okay?" Wow. She sure was a hugger, this one. Nathan wasn't sure what to do. Then that floral scent on her skin hit him again. Harder this time. What was that? It made him feel... Kind of...

Strange.

He slowly hugged her back, as he closed his eyes and breathed her in. "Do you wanna come back to my place?" he asked. The second those words left his lips, Nathan's eyes shot open in shock. Where the fuck had _that_ come from?! He never let anyone come to his apartment. Let alone a freaking human!

Shit.

He couldn't take it back now. Otherwise she'll think _he's_ the crazy one. He gently pushed her away from him. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea. But what could he say?! "To dry off...?" he cleared his throat. "I m... meant to dry off."

Haley looked surprised by that. She didn't know Nathan, but she got the impression he was rather... aloof. "Oh?"

Please say no. Please say no. I don't know why the hell I said that, but please say no. Nathan kept on repeating inside his head.

"I appreciate the offer. But I can't. Sorry."

Yes! Thank you.

"I really need to get home and check on my Uncle."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Yes. You should."

"Will you still walk with me, though?"

"...Yeah."

And with that, the two of them started walking together again in silence. They hadn't even noticed the girl with long dark hair, carrying a jacket in her hand; that was far too big for her, watching them from across the street.

She did not look happy.

xXx

Lucas had spent the last three hours going over the files in front of him. It didn't make sense. Why hadn't his old partner informed them about this? Was he hiding something? And why Tree Hill of all places? Lucas had gotten in touch with an old contact earlier. She told him that if he wanted to talk, they would be better off meeting face to face. She wouldn't say anymore than that and hung up on him.

What was going on in that town?

Making a tough decision, Lucas stacked all the 'Tree Hill' files into one pile, before getting up from his seat. Grabbing the pile, he quickly made his way out of his office and towards the elevators. He was going to talk to his boss about a transfer.

It was funny how life turned out.

After all these years of trying to get away from that town and it's bad memories, Lucas 'Scott' Lee was finally going home.

xXx

Closing the door behind him with a soft thud, Nathan was glad to be home. After dropping Haley off and making sure no one had followed them, he went to the cafe to pick up his jacket. Karen told him that Lily had already taken it with her to give to him.

Sensing someone was standing behind him, Nathan quickly turned, only to have his 'missing' jacket thrown in his face. Pulling it away from him, he saw his sister standing there with her arms crossed, glaring at him. "Damn it, Lil." He said annoyed, as he hung up his jacket. "How did you get in here?"

"Picked the lock." She replied like it was the most obvious thing.

"Not again." He sighed. "I told you to stop doing that."

"Why? It's not like you have a girlfriend." She watched her brother take a seat on his beat-up old tacky looking couch. "Or am I missing something?"

"What are you talking about?" Nathan looked at her confused.

"I'm talking about your little human friend, Nate. The two of you looked pretty cosy together."

"Are you spying on me?" he sounded annoyed.

"No. I'm worried about you."

"Well don't. Because there's nothing going on. She was just thanking me for helping her. That's all." He decided not to tell Lily anything more than that. Why should he? It was none of her business. He was so sick of his sister acting like she was years older instead of minutes.

"Okay. If you say so." Lily turned to leave.

Nathan got up to follow her to the door. "Wait, that's it? You're not gonna give me some big speech about how 'you're always too soft when it comes to the humans..." he was doing his best impression of her. "Or about 'how careful you need to be around this girl. What if you start spilling all our secrets to her? Oh Nate, what will I tell Brooke and Julian? Do you want those bastards from the organization to find us? Do you want _him_ to find us? You're so careless little brother. Why would you do something so stupid...?'

Lily stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her brother as he continued to do a horrible impression of some of the things she would have said to him, had she not been running late for something. "Are you done?"

"Yes." He cleared his throat. He may have gotten a bit carried away.

"Good." She lifted her arm, like she was about to give him a one-armed hug or something, only to smack him hard up-side the head."

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Three reasons. One, I do not sound like that at all. Two, I think you gave yourself the speech for me. And three, I'm already late for a job interview."

Nathan scoffed. "Another one? You know, if you tried being nicer to people, you wouldn't get fired from every job you get." He chuckled.

Lily mocked chuckled along with him, before giving him another hard smack up-side the head."

"Ow! Stop hitting me."

"Stop being a dick." She told him, opening the door. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah fine." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "Just do me a favour and not break into my apartment next time." The only reply he got was Lily flipping him off as she walked away from his place. "Love you too, sis." Nathan rolled his eyes at that as he shut the door.

xXx

 **A/N- Okay, that's done. On to chapter five...**

 **Happy New Year Everyone.**

 **Here's hoping it's a hell of a lot better than the last for me and mine... lol.**

 **xxx**


	6. SORRY

Hello. I'm a friend of Lili's, who is writing on her behalf… I hope i'm doing this right?

Anyway she wanted me to tell all of you who are reading her stories, that she is very sorry for the long wait for new chapters. But unfortunately it's gonna be a longer wait still, because she is very ill you see and every time she starts writing she has to be sick, where she keeps going dizzy all the time. It has gotten to a point where she has to keep going to the doctor and getting tests, because they can't find anything wrong with her (apparently)

That's what she wanted me to tell you.

Again she apologises and hopes that you understand.

Thanks.


End file.
